“Over the centuries a number of images have been put forward as life portraits of our greatest writer, but at present none of them is generally accepted as such. Up until now… With the emergence of the Cobbe portrait, we are presented with a contemporary portrait that has strong claims to represent the dramatist as he appeared to his contemporaries.”

These lines from shakespearefound.org.uk (associated with the University of Warwick) set the stage for a 20 minute video/film that features Prof. Stanley Wells talking about the Cobbe portrait, and why it’s believed to present the real Shakespeare, the towering author we still know little about today. You can watch the video above, or find it on iTunesU, where it’s among the most downloaded videos.

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Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.